Veljkovic v. Radisson Hospitality, Inc.

Background

The dispute concerned approximately 73,000 square feet of land in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, known as the Old Mill property. The plaintiffs alleged that their families had ownership interests in the property before the communist government of Yugoslavia confiscated it in 1947. They further alleged that later private entities developed a Radisson Blu hotel on the property and that Radisson Hospitality participated in wrongful conduct involving the land.

The plaintiffs had previously brought a similar six-count lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois against Radisson Hospitality and another company. That court dismissed the case under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, which allows a court to dismiss when another forum is substantially better suited to resolve the dispute. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, concluding that the Serbian Restitution Agency was an adequate alternative forum and that the dispute was more appropriately addressed in Serbia.

The plaintiffs then filed a nearly identical lawsuit in the District of Minnesota, naming only Radisson Hospitality as the defendant. Radisson moved to dismiss based on several grounds, including claim preclusion, forum non conveniens, lack of standing, failure to join other entities, and failure to state a claim. The court chose to decide the motion on forum non conveniens grounds and did not address the remaining arguments.

Court’s analysis

The court concluded that the earlier litigation had a preclusive effect on part of the forum analysis. Specifically, it treated the Seventh Circuit’s determination that the Serbian Restitution Agency was an adequate and available forum as already decided. The court nevertheless independently examined whether the private and public interest factors favored resolving the dispute in Minnesota or before the Serbian agency.

The private-interest factors favored Serbia. The court found that important evidence and witnesses concerning the property and hotel development were located in Serbia or elsewhere in Europe, rather than Minnesota. It also found that Radisson could be disadvantaged if it could not bring potentially responsible third parties into the Minnesota case.

The public-interest factors also favored Serbia. The court determined that resolving the case would require applying Serbian property, business-organization, and restitution law to decide whether the plaintiffs had a legal ownership interest in the property. It also found that Serbia had a strong local and political interest in resolving claims arising from historic government confiscations through the restitution system it had created. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ general allegations of corruption as insufficient to show that the Serbian Restitution Agency was inadequate.

The court further found that the plaintiffs’ choice of Minnesota deserved less weight because neither plaintiff had a connection to Minnesota and the dispute was centered in Serbia. It noted that the apparent real party in interest, Bogdan Veljkovic, resided in Serbia and that the plaintiffs’ counsel had stated that Alexis Veljkovic was used as a plaintiff because Bogdan could not sue based on diversity jurisdiction while residing outside the United States.

Disposition

The court granted Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint without prejudice on the ground of forum non conveniens. The dismissal was conditioned on Radisson’s promise to consent to the jurisdiction of the Serbian Restitution Agency if asked to participate and not to contest the agency’s ultimate rulings concerning the Old Mill property. Judge Susan Richard Nelson directed that judgment be entered accordingly.